As is well known, the kidney in a vital organism performs at its renal tubule and with its filtration and secretion mechanism the function of excreting into the urine waste substances from blood and noxious substances taken up by the vital organism, such as drugs and toxic substances.
On the other hand, the liver in a vital organism performs three major functions, as listed below. Namely, the liver first acts as a digestive gland and secretes 500 to 1000 cc of bile per day to assist in the digestion and absorption of fats by the small intestines. Its second function is to process chemical changes, storage, and use of various nutrients within the body; in brief, it is an intermediate metabolism. Thirdly, the liver performs detoxication by subjecting noxious substances, such as toxin, from outside the body and toxic substances produced within the body, to detoxication treatments such as oxidization, reduction and inclusion, and by mixing these substances with bile to dispose of them or by sending them to the kidney for excretion into the urine.
In this way, although the kidney and the liver perform their individual functions, the above-mentioned waste substances and drugs tend to accumulate locally, and therefore these substances often cause kidney diseases and liver diseases to develop, not only individually but also as complications resulting from diseases of these organs. Specific substances which can cause such individual or complicated kidney and liver diseases are of various types. For instance, drugs which can act as such substances are listed below and are classified according to the organs to be affected. In the following list, the drugs marked with the symbol are those which can cause injury to both the kidney and the liver.